1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to wireless devices and more specifically to wireless telecommunications devices. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a wireless telecommunications device with multiple subscriber numbers and method for designing, configuring, and utilizing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication is growing at a tremendous pace. Wireless (or cellular) phone use, in particular, has been escalating in most countries across the world. Having an individual cell phone is becoming almost a necessity in major cities. Having a cellular phone enables a person to be reachable/accessible for communication by clients, co-workers, family, and others with the device's phone number. A cellular phone also provides the user the flexibility of remaining in/initiating phone communication at all times, regardless of his/her geographic/physical location.
In today's business world, a cellular phone is becoming a required business tool, and many companies provide their employees or executives with a wireless phone for business use. Other employees may simply purchase the phone themselves having recognized the importance of having a business point of contact while out of the (oftentimes virtual) office. This is particularly true in the mobile business world where business people conduct business while out of the traditional office and thus have to carry around a business cellular phone (or other mobile devices, such as a PDA or Blackberry with cellular phone capabilities) to conduct business on the go. Occasionally, also, a business person may work for (or own) more than one business, thus requires a separate cellular phone for each business.
In addition to the escalating business use of cellular phones, an even larger segment of the global population utilizes cellular phones for personal use. Typically, most users of cellular phones purchase a personal cell phone that is used for personal calls. When these users are also business men/women, the user may purchase a separate phone device (or receive one form their business), which is a business cellular phone utilized solely/primarily for business. Thus, it is not uncommon for a business person to have two cellular phones, a first business phone dedicated to business calls and a second personal phone utilized for personal calls (or alternatively, a second business phone when the person works for (or owns) two businesses). Each phone has a different number and may be provided by different service providers (e.g., Sprint®, AT&T®, Cingular®, TMobile®). Having two phones is necessary when the business phone is dedicated solely for business use only, and the person desires to have a separate means of wireless communication with other non-business contacts (family, friends, etc.). For example, in some instances, when the cellular phone is owned or controlled by the business, the business promulgates specific rules and restrictions on the utilization of the business phone for anything other than business-related calls.
Additionally, certain business calls are required to be expensed to a client or the business unit. When a single phone (i.e., phone number) is utilized for both personal and business calls, the task of expensing calls become increasingly more difficult and involves tedious analysis of the calls made and received to separate out personal calls, average the cost of the calls across the ratios of personal to business calls and other calculations. For most business persons, the headaches of performing this monthly calculation leads them to obtain and carry around two phones, with one dedicated solely to business calls so that the monthly task of expensing calls becomes substantially easier.
Travelers to different countries, whether on business or pleasure, frequently desire to have a local phone number while away. Today, obtaining a local cellular number in another country requires either a purchase of a new cell phone configured with a local number for that country or purchase of a local number subscriber identity module (SIM) (interchangeably referred to hereinafter as both SIM and subscriber module) to insert into the user's cellular phone. For example, with (“unlocked”) Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) phones or phones that require an insertable/removable subscriber module to operate, the user may utilized his current cellular phone, but has to replace the subscriber module (with the home location's telephone number—“home module”) with a subscriber module obtained in that foreign country (“foreign module”). Because most countries outside of the United States operate a GSM-based cellular phone system, which requires insertion of a SIM in the cellular phone/wireless device, cell phone users are familiar with the use of relatively-inexpensive, local-number SIMs when traveling outside of the United States.
For users whose personal phone is a quad band or higher band GSM-configured device, obtaining the local number simply involves removing the home module and replacing it with the foreign module having the local foreign number. However, once the home module is removed, no calls being made to the cellular number of the person's home module can be received on the cellular phone. When the home module contains the business number, the user effectively shuts down/off his business number. For most business persons who wish to continue conducting business across national boundaries with the business number, but who also wants access to a local foreign number (perhaps to conduct local business transactions without incurring the substantial costs of inter-territorial cellular fees), this is not a desired outcome. Even more worrisome, however, is the ease at which the subscriber module may be lost or misplaced once removed from the cellular phone. Thus, removing the subscriber module of a business number (or personal number, for that matter) may lead to much angst and significant costs if the SIM card has to be replaced on return to the person's home country.
Thus, most business travelers opt to purchase (or rent) another cellular phone that is utilized for supporting the foreign local number, while keeping their separate personal/business phone. Notably, for persons with CDMA-configured devices in the United States (e.g., those persons using Sprint or other CDMA carriers), accessing wireless/cellular communication outside of the United States requires purchase of a new GSM-capable device in the foreign country.
Having to carry around and communicate over two separate cellular phones with two different numbers is cumbersome and may occasionally lead to confusion. For example, when the personal phone rings while on the business phone, there is no automatic way to mute the rings from the personal phone while completing the business call on the business phone. When the calls are received in the reverse (personal then business), the person may have to ask the personal caller to hold on while answering the business call on the business phone, risking the personal caller overhearing the business conversation. Measures to locate the other phone, mute or answer the other phone, and transition from one phone to another requires some ambidexterity, perhaps while conducting an important business conversation.